CHAP. XIX.

He goes on with the same matter, Treating of the Audiences of Ministers, and Counsellours.

KIngs (saith Xenophon) haue many eares; For they heare by their owne, and by those of their Fauourites, Ministers, & Counsellours. And it is no more then they stand in neede of. For they must heare all, Great, and Small, Naturall, and Stranger, without acceptation of persons, these as well as those; and deny no man their eares, lest they giue them iust cause to grieue and complaine, that for them onely, there is neither King, Fauourite, nor Minister to haue accesse vnto. This Rapsodye, and multitude of eares, and the difference between the one and the other, King Dauid giues vs to vnderstand in that his Audience which he crau'd of God. Domine, Ex∣audi orationem meam •uribus percipe obsecrationem meam.* Heare my prayer (O Lord) bow downe thine eare, and hearke• vnto my supplication. He saith, Heare me, O Lord; but how, or in what maner? With thine eares, I beseech thee. Tell me (thou holy king) why dost thou say with thine eares. Might not that phrase of speech beene spared? Or wouldst thou happely, that God should heare thee with his eyes, or his mouth? No certainly, But because it is a vsuall custome with Kings, that gouerne great Monarchies, who by reason of the varietie and multitude of businesses, cannot by them∣selues Page  170 giue eare vnto all, and informe themselues of the truth, to remit part of them to others, that they may heare the Parties, and informing themselues of the busines, may send it afterwards to the Consulta there to be debated. One comes with his Memoriall to the King; The King wills him to speake vnto the President, or to such a Secretary, that he may inform. But Dauid here saith; Remit me not O Lord vnto any other, for remissions, are remissions, the very word telling vs, that to remit a busines, is to make it remisse and slow, and that there is vsed therein so much remission, that a mans life is oftentimes ended, before his busines. Auribus percipe: Doe thou thy selfe heare me with thine owne eares, without remitting me to the hearing of others. But to heare all, and in all partes, without remission to other mens eares, who can doe this saue onely God? And for my part, I am of opinion, that they alluded vnto this, who (as wee told you) pain∣ted their God without eares; for to giue vs thereby to vn∣derstand, that it is peculiar onely vnto God to heare with∣out eares, and to heare all, without standing in neede of o∣ther Oydos, or Oydores; For such a necessitie, were in God a defect. But in Kings it were a defect to doe otherwise; for they are notable to heare all of themselues, and ther∣fore must of force make vse of other mens eares. And there∣fore, as Nature, in Mans body hath disposed different Mem∣bers, necessary for it's proper conseruation, as the eyes to see, the eares to heare, the tongue to talke, the hands to worke, the feete to walke, and all of them to assist to the Empire of the soule. So in like manner, this Mysticall body of the Common-wealth, whereof the King is the soule, and Head, must haue it's members, which are those his Mini∣sters, which are Subiect to the Empire of their king, by whom hee disposeth and executeth all that, which doth conuene for it's Gouernment, conseruation, and augmen∣tation.* Aristotle renders the reason, why your huge and extraordinary tall men are but weake; And (as I take it) it is Page  171 this. The rationall Soule (saith he) is solely one, indiuisi∣ble, and of a limited vertue or power, and that it cannot at∣tayne to that strength and force, as to giue vigour to those partes that are so farre distant and remote in a body, beyond measure, great. Now, if the body of this Monarchie, be so vaste, and exceeding great, and goes dayly increasing more and more, and that the Soule of the King which is to go∣uerne it, to animate it, and to giue it life, doth not increase, nor is multiplyed, nor augmented, at least in it's Ministers; How is it possible, that a King of himselfe alone should bee able to afford assistance to all? And to giue life, and being, to so many partes and members, that are set so far assunder? so great is the Office of a king, especially, if he be Master of many Kingdomes, that it is too great a Compasse, for one mans reach, and it is not one man alone, that can fill and oc∣cupie a whole Kingdome, and be present in all it's partes. And therefore of force he must make vse of other folkes helpe, and more particularly of those, which serue him in∣stead of eares, such as are all your superiour Ministers of Counsells. These great Officers are called in the Spanish, Oydores, of Oyr, To heare; And the eares of the head, are c•lled Oydoras, of their hearing; And your Iudges of the land, Oydores, Hearers of Mens causes And as they are alike in name, so ought they likewise to be alike in Office, and to resemble the Originall, which it representeth, to the life, and it's true nature. Now, what Office is most proper and most naturall to the eares? you will all grant mee, that it is to heare alwayes, & neuer to be shut. Your eyes haue their port∣cullis, which they open, or shut, as they see cause. The mouth, hath the like; But the eares (like bountifull house keepers) haue their doores still open, and those leafes which they haue on either side are neuer shut, neuer so much as once wagge.* And it is Pliny's obseruation; That onely man, of all 〈◊〉 creatures hath his eares immobile, and with out any the least mouing. And Horace, holdes it an ill signe to wagg Page  172 them; but a worse, to stop them, Sicut aspides surdae, obtu∣rantes aures suas.* Like deafe adders, stopping their eares, that they may not heare. sicut Aspides, which are fierce and cruell creatures, and of whom it is sayd, that they are borne as deafe as a doore naile; and to this their naturall deafenes, they adde another that is artificiall, whereby they grow more deafe, by poysoning that part, and by winding their tayle close about their head, and sometimes laying the one eare close to the ground, and stopping the other with the tipp of their tayle, that they may stop and damme vp all the wayes, by which the Voyce of the Charmer might en∣ter in. Vnto whom, Dauid compares those who being Oydos del Rey, the Kings eares, or (to speake in the vsuall phrase) Oydores del Reyno, the Kingdomes eares, doe shut and stop their eares, that they may not giue due and fitting Audience. Being naturally enemies to their owne professi∣on, which is to heare; seeking out shiftes and tricks, that the Cryes, and Complaints of the poore may not come to their eares. There is not any crueltie comparable to this, to see a poore suitor trot vp and downe, a moneth or two together, labouring to haue Audience, and in stead of let∣ting him in, hath the doore still shut against him. Nature would not allow doores to the eares, & yet these that are the Common-wealths eares, make profit of the doores of their houses, and command them to be kept shut: your suitors they come and goe, but my sennior Oydor, my Lord iudge, he that should haue his doores open, to giue open hearing to all Comers, is shut vp in his closet, and cannot be spoken withall vnder a couple of Capons. The Tribunes of the peo∣ple of Rome (a Magistracie ordained for defending of the Communaltie) kept their gates still open, that men at all houres, might vpon all occasions, come and treat with them. If that young man,* which was Saint Pauls sisters sonne, who heard the Conspiracie which the •ewes had plotted a∣gainst him, and went to giue aduise thereof to the Magistrate, Page  173 had not found such easie entrance into the Tribunes house as he did, without doubt it had cost Paul his life. For fourty men, had taken a solemne oath to kill him as he came forth of prison to his Triall; and bound themselues with a curse, that they would neither eate, not drinke, till they had killed him. Now, when this young man came to the Chiefe Cap∣taine, and told him that he had something to say vnto him; The Text there saith, that the Captaine tooke him by the hand, and went a part with him alone, and asked him; What hast thou to shew to me, &c. With this facilenes, did the Ministers of that Heathen-people, giue Audience. How much more ought Christian Ministers to doe the like? The open doore, and the giuing of Audience in some open Hall, or in some outward Court, whereunto all are admitted to enter, would giue much content vnto many; but these close doores, and close Audience, to very few; which is purposely done for to pleasure their friends and ser∣uants; for, from this their hard accesse, and difficile en∣trance, they likewise make their gaine, and are not ashamed now to demand that for a see, which if they were well serued should be recompenced with a halter And looke what I haue said of your Oydores, which are your Iudges in Chanceries, and other the chiefe Courtes of Iustice; I say the like of other Ministers, who though they haue not the same name, yet doe they serue as eares to their king. And then are their eares shut, and growne deafe, when they will not heare; making thereby his Maiestie to be found fault withall, & to receiue a hard censure from his subiects, when he is innocent & blamelesse, and drawing a thousand other mischiefes vpon the Common-wealth. And it is a most shamefull thing, and worthy reprehension, & redresse, that when kings shall bee liberall in this kind, their Ministers should be so short & cut∣ted and that a man should be at more cost and trouble to get Audience of them, & to negociate a busines, then of the king himself. And the mischiefe of it is, that they procure and pre∣tend Page  174 now, as in former times, the greatest fauours the highest places, honors, & dignities, whilst in the mean while it is not thought vpon, nor taken •nto consideratiō, that besides the of∣fence which is done herein vnto God & the Common-wealth, that it is one of the most preiudiciall things in the world for the quiet peace of States, & the conseruation of kingdomes. And this was well vnderstood by Absolon the son of Dauid, & pretender to the Crowne of Israel. Who perceiuing, that the king, his father through his great imployments in the Wars, could not so well attend his giuing Audience to all his sub∣iects, and that they to whose charge & care it was committed, did not cumply, therin with their obligation, he placed him∣selfe at the entrance of the Citie, whether the suitours repai∣red, and seeing how much they distasted it, that they had not that quicke Audience and dispatch as they expected, and de∣sired, he insinuates, himselfe into them, and speaking very kindly,* and louingly vnto them, he tolde them. Videntur mihi Sermones tuiboni & iusti, sed non est qui te audiat con∣stitutus à Rege: Thy matters are good and righteous, but there is no man deputed of the King to heare thee. And this is it, that puts all out of frame, and order. O quoth he, that I were made Iudge in the land, that euery man which hath any matter of controuersie might come to me, that I might doe him Iustice; &c. And it followeth anon after in the Text; Quod solicitabat corda virorum: That by this means he stale away the hearts of the men of Israel. And that thereupon there shortly after insued a great rebellion, which put the king, & the kingdom in great ieopardie. Which may serue as a lesson for a good Minister, to teach them what they ought to do, & not to think, they do that which they ought, when for fashion sake, they giue short and crowding Audi∣ences, where that which enters in at one eare, goes out (as they say) at another. But that so much time should be allowed for the hearing of them, as the qualitie off the busines shall require, without cutting those off, who go rendring their rea∣sons; Page  175 For he that hath not the patience to heare them, either he not vnderstandeth them, or is afraid to meddle with them.

With this therefore I conclude this, and the former dis∣course. That the first Office of a King, is, To heare all his subiects. And it being supposed, that he alone cannot doe it, it is fit he should haue Oydores, that should heare for him, and be his eares. And for that as by the eares of the head, there runn's along a certaine secret nerue, by meanes wher∣of that which is heard, is presently conuaied to the braine, there to be registred, and consulted on by the Common sense. So these Oydores, ought to holde their secret Consulta, wherein they ought to make relation vnto the King of all that they haue heard. But let them weigh with all, what a short Cut it is from the eare to the braine, and the small stay that is made in this Iourney, or passage; to the end that by this natural course, which is so quicke, & speedy, they may see their errour, and perceiue what a great fault it is, to retarde their Consultations, to shew themselues thicke of hearing, & to haue their eares shut, or rather the Oydores themselues shut vp, and not to be spoken withall. Some would faine excuse these Audiences, with the impertinencies of those that craue them, which sometimes are very large and tedious and to as little purpose, as they are too too importune, & vn∣seasonable. But to this answere; That your high and emi∣nent places, bring with them this trouble and charge; And (as the Apostle Saint Paul said) that it is a great token of prudence to know how to beare with the foolish, and to haue suffrance and patience with those, that are none of the wisest.* Libenter enim suffertis insipientes, cum sitis ipsi sapi∣entes: For ye suffer fooles gladly because that ve are wise. And because he that is most wise, is most offended with ignorance, let him know, that he meriteth much in dissem∣bling it, when it is fitting so to doe: for to say the truth (as the same Apostle affirmeth, Gods good and faithfull Mini∣sters haue obligation, both to the Wise, and to the foolish. Page  176 Sapientibus & insipientibus debitorsum.* I am debtor both to the wise men, and to the vnwise. In the History of the Kings is set downe the dissimulation, wherewith the wo∣mon of Tecoa spake vnto King Dauid, and how importunate and tedious she was in telling here tale, and withall the Kings great patience in hearing her out, and his not being offen∣ded with the craft and cunning wherewith shee came vnto him; albeit the businesse was of that weight and moment, that his great Captaine Ioab durst not propound it vnto him.* Audi tacens, simul & quaerens. Giue eare, and be still; and when thou doubtest, aske. This Counsaile concerneth all, but more particularly Kings, and their Ministers, who are to heare, and be silent, to aske, and aske againe, till they haue fully informed themselues of the truth of the case. For this is rather an honour, then dishonour vnto Kings, and great Ministers.* For, as the holy Ghost saith; Gloria re∣gum est in vestigare sermonem. The Kings honour, is to search out a thing. Of him, that speaketh not, nor asketh a question of him that speaketh, it may be conceiued, that he doth not heare him; For these two sences are so neere of kinne, that (as the Philosopher obserueth) he that is borne dumbe, is also deafe; And not onely this, but likewise, that the speech being taken away, the hearing is lost with it. The cause whereof (according to Lactantius) is; for that the Organ, by which the Ayre is receiued, and where∣with the Voyce is formed, holds such Correspondencie with that which goes vnto the hearing, that if the first be shut or stopt, the exercise of the second is likewise hin∣dred. Vpon information, and hearing, followeth in the next place, doing of Iustice, whereof we will treate in the Chapters following.